Communications Law Commons^™

Ensuring Remedies To Cure Cramming, Amy J. Schmitz

Cardozo Journal of Conflict Resolution

On July 23, 2012, the Federal Trade Commission ("FTC") called wireless telephone bill cramming "a significant consumer problem," and both the FTC and Federal Communications Commission ("FCC") have been delving into the morass of concerns regarding cramming with respect to landline (or wired) telephone billing. "Cramming" occurs when a third party unaffiliated with a customer's telephone company adds charges to the telephone bills that the company sends to the customer. These charges can be for anything from horoscopes to long-distance telephone services.

"You May Have Already Won. . .": Telemarketing Fraud And The Need For A Federal Legislative Solution , Patrick E. Michela

Pepperdine Law Review

No abstract provided.

Can You Hear Me Now? Cell Phone Jamming And The Tenth Amendment, Thomas L. Chittum, Iii

Nevada Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Broadband Localism, Olivier Sylvain

Faculty Scholarship

Today, local governments are supplying broadband service to residents to fill the service gap left by major providers. Municipalities are joining forces with local anchor institutions and private providers to close the digital divide and incubate novel public-minded service models. This is the new broadband localism. Some stakeholders fear that local public participation in the broadband market will negatively impact competition. They have articulated this concern in state legislation across the country: nineteen states forbid or otherwise restrict municipal ownership or administration of broadband and three may enact similar restrictions this year. No matter the substantive policy merits of such …

Mrs. Tschetschot's Busted Hand, Poker, And Taxes: The Inconsistent Application Of Tax Laws On A Game Of Skill, George Remennik

Cardozo Public Law, Policy & Ethics Journal

The article argues that the U.S. tax system unfairly treats professional poker players by restricting the deduction of gambling losses under Section 165d, despite poker being increasingly recognized as a game of skill. This disparity contrasts with the treatment of other professions, which can fully deduct business expenses. The analysis calls for legislative clarification to align the tax treatment of professional poker players with that of other professionals, ensuring equitable tax outcomes.

City Of New York V. Verizon New York, Inc., Michael T. Leigh

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Future Of 9-1-1: New Technologies And The Need For Reform, Philip J. Weiser, Dale Hatfield, Brad Bernthal

Publications

Our nation's 9-1-1 system's success to date belies the fact that its core premises will not continue to serve it effectively and it has come to a critical juncture. In particular, the balkanized nature of 9-1-1 operations that differ across jurisdictions and are supported by Byzantine funding mechanisms obscure a simple but profound development: our nation's emergency system is not keeping up with or taking advantage of technological change. Because the system continues to work and policymakers largely do not appreciate the system's technological limitations, decision makers not only fail to focus on this challenge but instead are all too …

Surfing Past The Pall Of Orthodoxy: Why The First Amendment Virtually Guarantees Online Law School Graduates Will Breach The Aba Accreditation Barrier, Nicholas C. Dranias

ExpressO

The impact of the constitutional dilemma created by the ABA’s aversion to Internet schooling is widespread. Currently, 18 states and 2 U.S. territories restrict bar exam eligibility to graduates of ABA-accredited law schools. Additionally, 29 states and 1 U.S. territory restrict admission to practice on motion to graduates of ABA-accredited law schools.

Although numerous lawsuits have been filed in ultimately failed efforts to strike down bar admission rules that restrict eligibility to graduates of ABA-accredited law schools, none has challenged the ABA-accreditation requirement based on the First Amendment’s prohibition on media discrimination. This Article makes that case.

Despite accelerating technological …

Communicating During Emergencies: Toward Interoperability And Effective Information Management, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

The suboptimal state of communications technology used by public safety agencies has emerged as a high profile political issue. In most cases, public safety agencies are able only to communicate using antiquated networks, engineered solely for providing voice communications and unable to interoperate beyond a select number of users. This type of system fails to provide the type of economies of scale, network flexibility, or the broader functionalities routinely used by the military and private sector enterprises. The challenge facing policymakers is thus how to develop a next generation architecture for public safety and spur adoption of a new set …

A Complete Property Right Amendment, John H. Ryskamp

ExpressO

The trend of the eminent domain reform and "Kelo plus" initiatives is toward a comprehensive Constitutional property right incorporating the elements of level of review, nature of government action, and extent of compensation. This article contains a draft amendment which reflects these concerns.

A Digital Age Communications Act Paradigm For Federal-State Relations, Kyle D. Dixon, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

This article captures the effort of the Digital Age Communications Act (DACA) to craft a new framework for the federal-state relationship in implementing a next generation telecommunications regulatory regime. In particular, it sets forth a DACA model that would implement a "rule of law" regulatory paradigm for an era of technological dynamism. This era requires, as the article explains, a coherent federal framework that circumscribes the role of state and local authorities so as to advance sound competition policy goals. The sole exception to this policy is the recognition that a basic local service rate retains both political and practical …

Imposing Geographical “Locateability” For Voice Over Internet Protocol, Andrea W.M. Louie

NYLS Law Review

No abstract provided.

Breaking The Bank: Revisiting Central Bank Of Denver After Enron And Sarbanes-Oxley, Celia Taylor

ExpressO

No abstract provided.

Internet Voting With Initiatives And Referendums: Stumbling Towards Direct Democracy, Rebekah K. Browder

Seattle University Law Review

Imagine that it is Tuesday, November 4, 2008, and you realize that you have not yet voted for the candidate that you want to be President of the United States. The polls close at 7 p.m., and it is already 6:45 p.m. Instead of rushing off to the nearest polling place, you simply go to your computer, log in, fill out a ballot, and email your ballot to your designated polling website. The whole process takes fewer than ten minutes, and you have done your civic duty. Leading proponents of Internet voting point to five possible benefits of electronic voting: …

Public Utility Law, B. Paige E. Holloway

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

Cooperative Federalism And Its Challenges, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

No abstract provided.

Technology Law, J. Douglas Cuthbertson, Glen L. Gross

University of Richmond Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Indecency Of Unsolicited Sexually Explicit Email: A Comment On The Protection Of Free Speech V. The Protection Of Children, Monique Redford

Seattle University Law Review

Because the state of Washington has a compelling interest in protecting the moral and psychological welfare of its children, the current spam law should be amended to also proscribe the transmission of unsolicited sexually explicit commercial email within its borders. This article argues that such an amendment would not violate either the dormant Commerce Clause or the First Amendment. In support of this thesis, section II first addresses the pervasive problem of children-not just adults-receiving sexually explicit material via unsolicited email. Then, sections III through V discuss the implications of the dormant Commerce Clause, the First Amendment, and the policy …

Federal Common Law, Cooperative Federalism, And The Enforcement Of The Telecom Act, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

Congress increasingly has enacted cooperative federalism programs to achieve complex regulatory policy objectives. Such programs combine the authority of federal regulators, state regulators, and federal courts in creative and often pathmarking ways, but the failure of these actors to appreciate fully their respective roles threatens to undermine cooperative federalism's effectiveness. In this Article, Professor Philip Weiser develops a coherent vision of how federal courts should enforce cooperative federalism regulatory programs. In particular, he relates the rise and purpose of cooperative federalism to the federal courts' increased reluctance to make federal common law under the Erie doctrine and their greater deference …

Paradigm Changes In Telecommunications Regulation, Phil Weiser

Publications

No abstract provided.

Chevron, Cooperative Federalism, And Telecommunications Reform, Philip J. Weiser

Publications

No abstract provided.

Yet Another Fox In The Hen House: Government Protection Of Artistic Expression Within Privately Owned Public Spaces, David Rudenstine

Cardozo Arts & Entertainment Law Journal

No abstract provided.

Why The Proposal To Legalize Physician-Assisted Suicide In Michigan Failed, Yale Kamisar

Articles

Some commentators and participants in the national debate over physician-assisted suicide (PAS) made much of the fact that in 1997 Oregon voters reaffirmed their support for assisted suicide by a much larger margin than the initial 1994 vote. The state legislature had put the initiative (which had initially passed by a 5149% vote) back on the ballot for an unprecedented second vote. This time the initiative was reaffirmed overwhelmingly, 60-40%. Barbara Coombs Lee, Executive Director of Compassion in Dying (an organization that counsels people considering PAS and one of the plaintiffs in Washington v. Glucksberg, 1997), hailed the second Oregon …

Why Did Voters Reject Michigan's Physician-Assisted Suicide Initiative?, Yale Kamisar

Articles

In November 1997, when Oregon voters reaffirmed their support for doctor-assisted suicide, some commentators called it a turning point for the "right to die" movement. But the lopsided defeat of a similar proposal in Michigan is a better barometer: in general, assisted suicide continues to fare badly in the political arena.

Telecommunications Act Of 1996: 704 Of The Act And Protections Afforded The Telecommunications Provider In The Facilities Sitting Context, The, Peter M. Degnan, Scott A. Mclaren, Michael T. Tennant

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

The Telecommunications Act of 1996, signed into law by President Clinton in February, addresses, among many other important subjects, some of the technical problems that have arisen from the increasing popularity of mobile communications. This article will provide an overview of the Act and will focus specifically on the protections afforded a telecommunications provider in § 704 of the Act.

Notary Law And Practice For The 21st Century: Suggested Modifications For The Model Notary Act, 30 J. Marshall L. Rev. 1063 (1997), Vincent Gnoffo

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

The Information Highway Must Pay Its Way Through Cities: A Discussion Of The Authority Of State And Local Governments To Be Compensated For The Use Of Public Rights-Of-Way, Clarence A. West

Michigan Telecommunications & Technology Law Review

In the ever-changing telecommunications industry there appears to be an enormous amount of confusion not only as to the appropriate amount of compensation chargeable to the users of public rights-of-way, but also as to the very authority of state and local governments to require compensation. This was not always the case. It has long been a well-settled legal principle that local governments may receive reasonable "rental" compensation from private commercial entities for their use of local public property for private economic gain, even where federal statutory law restricts local governments from denying access to rights-of-way for telecommunications services. For example, …

Ideology Between Fiction And Fantasy, Slavoj Zizek

Cardozo Law Review

In his movie version of Franz Kafka's The Trial, Orson Welles accomplished an exemplary anti-obscurantist operation by way of reinterpreting the place and the function of the famous parable on "the door of the Law." In the film, we hear it twice: at the very beginning, it serves as a kind of prologue, read and accompanied by (faked) ancient engravings projected from lantern-slides; then, shortly before the end, it is told to Josef K., not by the priest (as in the novel), but by K.'s lawyer (played by Welles himself) who unexpectedly joins the priest and K. in the …

Pulling The Plug: Controversial Programming On Public Access Television And The Cable Television Consumer Protection And Competition Act Of 1992, 28 J. Marshall L. Rev. 399 (1995), Bradley J. Howard

UIC Law Review

No abstract provided.

Passive Communication In Public Fora: The Case For First Amendment Protection Of Newsracks, Sandra L. Cobden

Cardozo Law Review

No abstract provided.